The two highest profile games, as the article notes also, are:- A talented but very battered Duke vs a young & searching MSU Spartans. A win does wonders for MSU as they continue to develop and try to find the right combinations on the floor. Game tips at 930pm on Tuesday (sigh, sooo dang late of a start!)

- Wednesday night features two of the best teams with UNC visited IU at 9pm. I have half a mind to make the drive to Bloomington to catch this one. It's fun to have these schools face of with all the cumulative history between the two. They both have the look of potential Final Four teams so far (the upset by IUFW notwithstanding).

The two highest profile games, as the article notes also, are:- A talented but very battered Duke vs a young & searching MSU Spartans. A win does wonders for MSU as they continue to develop and try to find the right combinations on the floor. Game tips at 930pm on Tuesday (sigh, sooo dang late of a start!)

- Wednesday night features two of the best teams with UNC visited IU at 9pm. I have half a mind to make the drive to Bloomington to catch this one. It's fun to have these schools face of with all the cumulative history between the two. They both have the look of potential Final Four teams so far (the upset by IUFW notwithstanding).

I love these conference challenges.

Recent Titan foe Florida State plays Minnesota tonight in what should be an interesting contest. It's on ESPNU at 7:00 PM if anyone wants to check it out.

Horizon:There were no games tonight in the Horizon. The Horizon currently ranks 20th in conference RPI. The league has been on a slow, steady, downward trendline since Butler left five years ago.

Non-Conference Opponents:Florida State 75, Minnesota 67. FSU (6-1) handed surprising Minnesota (6-1) its first defeat. The game was close for about 25 minutes, when FSU went on a 28-13 run to build a 19 point lead with 4 minutes left. As against the Titans, the Seminoles did most of their damage from deep in the paint. Milwaukee refugee Akeem Springs led Minnesota with 11 points. Dwayne Bacon had 18 points for FSU, and Jonathan Isaac added 14 points and 13 rebounds.

#25 West Virginia 108, Manhattan 61. After what WVU (5-1) did to New Hampshire and Manhattan, I'm just glad we don't play them.

Fort Wayne 107, Siena Heights 59. Fort Wayne (5-2) has been feeling its oats since beating Indiana, blasting Mississippi Valley State by 25 and now little Siena Heights by 48.

Other Games:#1 Kentucky 115, Arizona State 69. Kentucky certainly looked like the best team in the country tonight. Freshman DeAaron Fox posted only the second triple-double in Kentucky history.

#18 Butler 68, Utah 59. Butler (7-0) was impressive, leading for all but about 90 seconds while beating an undefeated Utah squad in Salt Lake. Utah (4-1) was led by a pair of Michigan kids the Titans offered, and one of whom they had a commit from until he didn't qualify. Kyle Kuzma had 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Lorenzo Bonham had 17 points (but 6 turnovers).

#23 Oregon 68, Boise State 63.

Northwestern 65, Wake Forest 58. Both teams are 5-2.

Mid-Major Win of the Day: North Carolina Central 62, Missouri 52. Patrick Cole had 17 points and 12 rebounds, and Danger Will Robinson posted the interesting stat line of 0 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks as NCC (4-2) led wire-to-wire. Missouri is only 3-3, but they played Xavier to within a point, so they're not that bad.

Horizon:Valparaiso 65, #21 Rhode Island 62. Valpo's wins over Alabama and BYU were nice, but this was the breakthrough top 25 win. It was the Crusaders first win over a ranked team since their 1998 miracle win over Mississippi in the NCAA tournament. Alec Peters had 27 points and 9 rebounds, and blocked a potential game tying three in the final seconds. Up next for Valpo (7-1)? #1 Kentucky. Michigander EC Mathews had just 6 for Rhody (5-2), his third straight game in single digits.

Non-Conference Opponents:Illinois 88, NC State 74. This was a close game for about 30 minutes, when the Illini (5-3) finally pulled away behind 68% second half shooting. Malcolm Hill had 22.

Southern Illinois 89, Murray State 85 (OT). Sean O'Brien tipped in Mike Rodriguez' missed layup with one second left for the lead and SIU (4-3) escaped in OT at Carbondale. SIU added to free throws for the final margin. Earlier, Murray State's Bryce Jones hit a trey at the buzzer to force the OT. Jonathan Stark led Murray State (3-4) with 29.

Bowling Green 86, Notre Dame (Ohio) 60. To the casual fan, this might look like a big win. Wes Alcigiare had 20 for the Falcons (3-4).

Other Games:#5 Duke 78, Michigan State 69. This one was tied at the half but Duke (7-1) got some breathing room with a little 9-0 spurt after the break and went on to win behind 24 points from Grayson Allen, 20 from Luke Kennard, and 17 points and 13 rebounds from Amile Jefferson. State is 4-4.

#2 Villanova 82, Penn 57. Big 5 action at the Palestra!#4 Kansas 91, Long Beach State 61. Long Beach is 1-8, with losses to Wichita State, Louisville, UNC, UCLA, Washington, and now Kansas, all on the road.#7 Xavier 85, North Dakota State 55.#10 Creighton 93, Buffalo 72. It always pains me to see schools like Xavier and Creighton (and Butler and Marquette and Dayton), that I once thought of as our peers, sitting there in the national rankings.#17 Wisconsin 77, #22 Syracuse 60. A big win in the Big 10-ACC challenge for the B10. Ethan Happ had 24 points and 13 rebounds as the Badgers (6-2) held Syracuse (4-2) to 21 second half points.

Notre Dame 92, Iowa 78.Pitt 73, Maryland 59. This was an impressive win for Pitt (6-1) over previously unbeaten Maryland (7-1). The Panthers led by 21 at halftime.

Mid-Major Win of the NIght: Probably it should go to Valpo, but I prefer Delaware State over St. John's 79-72 behind 26 points from Jonathan Morgan.

Commish, you made the right call going with the Delaware State win as mid major win of the night. Sure, St. John's is struggling, but you can bet Valpo had better odds to win than Delaware State did. DS's only win of the season prior to last night had been against a D3 team.

Eastern Michigan 85, Detroit 61. You remember what Momma always said for this kind of situation...

Georgia State 81, Wright State 74. The Raiders (6-2) fell to Ray McCallum's new team despite 32 points from Grant Benzinger.

Kansas State 80, Green Bay 61. K State (6-1) led by double digits almost the entire game. They held Green Bay (3-4) to 36% shooting, shot 57% themselves, and crushed the Phoenix on the boards.

Arkansas State 78, Cleveland State 51. Cleveland forward Demonte Flanigan, playing only his second game this year after an early injury, had 14 points and 6 rebounds, but it wasn't nearly enough for the Vikings, who were held to 17 points in the first half. The Red Wolves are 7-1, in including a win at Georgetown.

Youngstown State 75, Robert Morris 74. Matt Donlan had 21 and Francisco Santiago 20 as a Cameron Morseless Youngstown nipped Bob Morris (2-6) in Pittsburgh. The Penguins (4-4) scored the game's last 5 points, in the final 33 seconds, to win. No idea why Morse, the nation's #8 scorer, was in street clothes.

UIC 74, Chicago State 58. Dikembe Dixson led UIC (4-3) with 20.

Milwaukee 72, Jacksonville 62. Even hapless Milwaukee (3-4) is off to a better start than the Titans. Brock Stull had 17 points and 11 rebounds. Jax is 5-3.

Northern Kentucky 84, Morehead State 79. Freshman Carson Williams stole the ball as Morehead angled for a game tying shot in the final seconds, then nailed two free throws for the NKU win. The big gun for the Norse (4-3) was sophomore Drew McDonald, who scored 32 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.

Currently the Horizon boasts three of the top 10 scorers in the country: #2 Alec Peters of Valpo (25.4), #3 Dikembe Dixson of UIC (25.2), and #8 Cameron Morse of YSU (23.7). #1 is Marcus Keene of Central Michigan (30.2), a transfer from YSU.

Non-Conference Opponents:Providence 76, New Hampshire 62. Rodney Bullock had 36 for Providence (5-2). This game wasn't as close as the final score looks (which is not too close) and Providence led by 16 at the break and as many as 23, and never less than double digits, in the second half. Jaleen Smith had 20 for UNH (4-3).

Fort Wayne 103, Austin Peay 99. Fort Wayne took the lead 3 minutes into the game and never trailed again, but they couldn't put stubborn Peay away until the final seconds. The Mastadons led the Governors by as many as 17 in the second half, but Austin Peay wouldn't quite go away. The win was the 5th in a row for Fort Wayne (6-2). Austin Peay (4-3) got 33 points from Josh Robinson in the loss. For Fort Wayne, Bryson Scott and Kason Harrell each scored 21.

Eastern Kentucky 78, Western Kentucky 59. Eastern (4-4) beat Western for the first time since 1987. Western (3-4) has played good at times and bad at times. Our home game on Dec. 17 may be our best remaining chance for a win before conference play.

Akron 95, Adrian 41. Adrian (2-4) was no match for Akron (6-1).

Top 25 and Other Games:Virginia Tech 73, Michigan 70. Virginia Tech got its first lead of the game on a Seth Allen bucket with under 2 minutes to play, and after a missed Michigan shot Allen hit a three pointer to give the Hokies (6-1) all the points they needed to defeat Michigan (5-2). Zak Irvin led all scorers with 23 points for UM.

UNC-Wilmington 97, Western Michigan 92. Western (2-5) closed a 19 point halftime deficit to 5 in the closing seconds. Too little, too late. The Seahawks, of the Colonial Athletic Association, are 6-1.

#13 Indiana 76, #3 North Carolina 67. The Hoosiers (5-1) built up a 17 point lead in the first 10 minutes, then strangled every UNC rally. All 5 Indiana starters hit double figures, led by Og Anunoby with 16. Justin Jackson had 21 for UNC (7-1).#6 Virginia 63, Ohio State 61. Ohio State (6-1) lost a 16 point lead but still had a chance to win it with a final shot--except that Virginia's smothering defense left the Buckeyes with nothing but a desperate heave by JaQuan Lyle that was way off the mark.

#9 Baylor 79, Sam Houston State 45.#11 UCLA 97, Cal-Riverside 57.#12 St. Mary's 66, Stanford 51. St. Mary's solidifies its place among the best teams in the country with an impressive win at Stanford (6-2). Cal Hermanson led the Gaels (6-0) with 25 points.

Clemson 60, Nebraska 58. Miami 73, Rutgers 61. Miami knocked surprising Rutgers from the unbeaten ranks. After entering the final day of the Big10-ACC challenge tied at 4-4, the ACC swept five of today's six games to win the Challenge for the first time since 2008.

Horizon:Oakland 92, Oral Roberts 64. Oral Roberts (1-6) usually puts something decent on the Court, but not this year. They're really bad. Sorta the 2016-17 Titans of the Summit League (which is ironic because they used to call their teams the "Titans.") Oakland (7-1) rolls behind 27 points from Sharron Dorsey-Walker.

Non-Conference Opponents:East Tennessee State 85, Lees McRae 80. ETSU had a remarkably difficult time with D-II Lees-McRae, which led at halftime. L-M isn't even a very good D-II team, entering the game with a 1-7 record. But Lees-McRae shot very well, hitting 10 three-point shots, and ETSU didn't take the lead for good until 1:36 was left to play. Hanner Mosquera-Perea led ETSU (6-1) with 18 points and 12 rebounds.

Teams Around the Country:

#8 Gonzaga 97, Mississippi Valley State 63. MVSU has played a brutal early schedule, with road games at Gonzaga, Indiana, Michigan State, West Virginia, and also Kent State, Fort Wayne, and Northwestern. The perpetually cash=strapped school has long required its basketball team to play lots of "guarantee games."

Cincinnati 55, #19 Iowa State 54 (OT). Here's something you might not have guessed: Iowa State has been ranked for 60 consecutive AP polls, third longest streak in the country after Kansas and Arizona. As the low score would indicate, this game was close all the way, with Cincinnati shutting down Iowa State's high-scoring backcourt and dominating the boards, but unable to generate much themselves (3-21 from three, for example). Iowa State's Naz Mitrou-Long missed a three for the win at the regulation buzzer, and another with 5 seconds left in OT. Iowa State scored a school record 130 vs. the Citadel last week.

Canisius 77, Manhattan 76. In Harlem, Canisius (3-4) overcame a 14 point halftime deficit to beat the Jaspers, who turned it over on their final possession that began with 8 seconds left. Jermaine Crumpton scored 26 for the victorious Griffins, while Zavier Turner led Manhattan (2-5) with 19. It does not look good for the Titans when Manhattan loses at home to a mediocre Canisius squad.

Other Games:#13 Indiana 83, SIU Edwardsville 60.

Duquesne 64, Pittsburgh 55. A big win for Duquesne over their crosstown rival, their first in the series since 2000. Emile Blackmun's 21 points led the Dukes (4-5), whose biggest lead was the final score. Pitt (6-2) was held to 33% shooting overall, just 3-16 from three.

Texas 77, Alabama 68.Citadel 108, Colgate 101. The Citadel (5-3) is averaging over 103 points per game, but giving up 101 per game. SMU 49, Bakersfield 43. These two combined were several points behind what either team scored in the Citadel/Colgate game. In the end SMU's 32% shooting topped Bakersfield's 30% shooting, although the real difference was at the penalty stripe, where SMU (5-3) enjoyed a 15-3 edge.

Horizon League:Murray State 86, Detroit 76. Better. Not good. Jonathan Stark finished with 27, including a couple of big baskets late in the game, late in the shot clock.

Green Bay 78, Toledo 77 (OT). Green Bay trailed most of the game at Toledo, but held the Rockets without a field goal for the final 4:57 of regulation and forced OT on a Karem Kanter basket with 6 seconds to play. Khalil Small then made one of two free throws with 5 seconds left in the OT to give the Phoenix the lead, and Toledo was unable to get off a final shot. Charles Cooper led Green Bay (4-4) with 18 and Kanter had a career high 17. Steve Taylor led Toledo with 22 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists in the Rockets' 4th overtime game of the year. The Titans next game is Wednesday at Toledo.

Oakland 78, Southern Utah 68. Oakland (8-1) beats another old Summit opponent behind Mellonhead Walker's 19 points. OU led by as many as 24 in the second half, and only a late, meaningless Thunderbird rally made the score appear reasonably close.

Penn State 72, Wright State 50. The Nittany Lions (6-3) scored the first 13 points of the second half to break open a tight game in Happy Valley. Wright State (6-3) never got closer than 14 after that. Mark Alstork had 15 for the Raiders, but turned it over 7 times.

[62i]Northern Kentucky 72,[/i] Norfolk State 61. The Norse (5-3) hit 12 of 26 three-pointers to grind out a road win against Norfolk (2-7). Northern Kentucky led by 16 at halftime. The Norfolk Spartans cut it to two in the second half but couldn't get over the hump. Lavonne Holland had 20 and Drew McDonald 18.

Montana 75, Milwaukee 69. This one was close all the way. The biggest lead for either team was 7, which lasted for less than 30 seconds. Milwaukee led by one at halftime, but after Montana scored first in the second half the Panthers never regained the lead. Freshman Bryce Nze had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Panthers (3-5). Walter Wright, a juco the Titans recruited a couple years ago, had 13 points and 5 assists for Montana (2-6).

Youngstown State 87, Oberlin 72. YSU did not play well, but even with leading scorer Cameron Morse on the bench, they weren't going to lose to Oberlin. Francisco Santiago led the Penguins with 20 points and 10 assists.

Non-Conference Opponents:Illinois 64, VCU 46. An impressive win for the Illini over a solid VCU team down at the Hoophall Miami Invitational. The Illini missed 10 of their first 11 shots and fell behind by 7, but took the lead with an 18-3 run and never trailed again. Leron Black had 18 points and 8 rebounds to lead Illinois (6-3). VCU (6-2) shot just 30%, including 2 of 17 from three points.

New Hampshire 56, Holy Cross 53. New Hampshire (5-3) rallied from a 7 point halftime deficit. Daniel Dion led with 18 points. Holy Cross is 3-5. Where have you gone Bob Cousy?

Fort Wayne 87, Miami U. 71. Fort Wayne took control early and romped at home. Bryce Scott had 24 and Moe Evans 23 and 10 assists as the Mastadons (7-2) won their 6th in a row.

Missouri 59, Western Kentucky 56. Missouri (4-3) missed its final 8 shots, allowing Western Kentucky to come back from a double digit deficit, but the Hilltoppers (3-5) ran out of time.

Adrian 72, Case Western 64.

Other Games:Michigan State 80, Oral Roberts 76. The Spartans continued to struggle, barely getting past 1-7 Oral Roberts. The Spartans (5-4) trailed much of the game and never led by more than 6. A couple of late free throw by Cassius Winston finally clinched the win. With Miles Bridges out, freshman Nick Ward led MSU with 24 points and 10 rebounds, while Winston had 15 points and 9 assists. Emmanuel Nzekwesi had 21 points and 13 rebounds for ORU.

Michigan 82, Kennesaw State 55. This game was close for a while, but Michigan took charge with a 17-2 run to end the first half. Moritz Wagner scored 20 for UM (6-2), and DJ Wilson had 15 points and 11 rebounds. Kennesaw is 3-6.

#11 UCLA 97, #1 Kentucky 92. In a match-up of the two winningest schools in NCAA history, UCLA beat #1 Kentucky for the second straight season, this time ending the Wildcats 42 game home court winning streak. The Bruins ended the first half with a 12-4 run to lead by 4, then outscored Kentucky 11-2 in the opening minutes of the second half. UCLA (9-0) then kept Kentucky at arm's length until the final minute, when a 10-4 run got the Wildcats to within 3 with 7 seconds to play. Bryce Alford then hit a couple free throws to put it out of reach. Six Bruins scored between 13 and 19 points, with TJ Leaf finishing with 17 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists. Kentucky (7-1) got 24 from Malik Monk and 20 from Dearon Fox.

#2 Villanova 88, St. Joe's 57. Josh Hart had 16 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists for Villanova (8-0), which looks poised to assume the top spot in the rankings.

#4 Kansas 89, Stanford 74. Reid Travis had 29 for Stanford (6-3), but it wasn't enough.#5 Duke 94, Maine 55. Luke Kennard scored 35 for Duke (8-1).#25 West Virginia 66, #6 Virginia 57. WVU (6-1) scored 42 points in the second half--nearly unheard of against Virginia (7-1)--to win in Charlottesville. The score was tied at 55 with 90 seconds to play, when West Virginia went on a binger, outscoring the Cavs 11-2 down the stretch.

#9 Baylor 76, #7 Xavier 61. Baylor (8-0) has beaten Oregon, MSU, Louisville and Xavier, and also VCU.#8 Gonzaga 69, #16 Arizona 62. Gonzaga was generally in control of this game until they started missing free throws, allowing Arizona to catch up in the final minutes. The Zags missed 8 of 14 free throws as Arizona cut the margin from 14 to 5, but the visiting Zags (8-0) were able to hold the Wildcats (6-2) off.

#10 Creighton 82, Akron 70. Crieghton led start to finish but didn't break it open until a 14-0 stretch midway through the second half. Akron loss snapped Akron's six game winning streak. Marcus Foster had 27 for Creighton (8-0).

#14 Louisville 79, Grand Canyon 70. Kudos to Louisville for playing at Grand Canyon. The mid-major home boys led by a point at halftime and still had that lead 6 minutes into the second half. A little 8-0 spurt gave Louisville (7-1) some breathing room, and they gradually pulled away. But it's obvious when you get these games--like Indiana at Fort Wayne--that mid-majors can win against the best teams when they get home games. Which is why they so seldom get these home games. This one was apparently scheduled at a personal favor to Gerry Colangelo, who helped start the Grand Canyon program. Grand Canyon plays two for one with Louisville, plus gets $100K cash. Nice deal. Grand Canyon senior guard DeWayne Russell made the most of his opportunity, scoring 42 points for Dan Majerle's Antelopes (3-4).

Providence 63, #21 Rhode Island 60. The host Friars (6-2) won the big grudge match in the smallest state. EC Mathews missed a three pointer to tie it with 4 seconds left.#22 Syracuse 77, North Florida 71. It won't impress AP voters, but it's a win for Syracuse (5-2)#23 Oregon 128, Savannah State 59. The first half wasn't good for Savannah State, but the second half was 70-24 Oregon. The Ducks are 7-2, the Tigers 2-8.

Texas Tech 85, Rice 84. Both teams entered the game at 6-1, pretty good for them. Anthony Livingston, a 64% free throw shooter, was fouled on a three point attempt with 3 seconds left, and calmly sank all three foul shots for the win. Livingston finished with 33 points, about 3 times his average.

Ole Miss 85, Memphis 77. Both team are 6-2. Anyone else think it is ridiculously hokey that Mississippi insists its teams be called "Ole Miss"?

Mid-Major win of the day: Omaha 98, Iowa 89. No fluke here--Omaha led for most of the game. Host Iowa closed to within three late, but Zach Jackson hit a big three for Omaha and then sank four straight free throws in the final minute. Jackson finished with 21 for Omaha (4-4). Peter Jok had 33 points and 10 rebounds for Iowa (3-5). Also worth noting: New Orleans 70, Washington State 54.

Horizon:Eastern Illinois 90, UIC 76. UIC, which is really a young team, is still going through growing pains, as this loss to a so-so Ohio Valley team at home shows. Oakland and Valpo are clearly the class of the Horizon. Eastern Illinois (5-3) had an 11 point lead at halftime and UIC never got closer. Marcus Ottey led UIC (4-4) with 16 points.

Non-Conference Opponents:Florida State 67, George Washington 48. Thirteen Seminoles scored and FSU (7-1) held GW (5-4) to 22.6% shooting in an easy win.

Cincinnati 85, Bowling Green 56. Wesley Alcigiare and Zack Denny each scored 16 for Bowling Green (3-5), but this game was never close. Cincy is (7-1).

St. Peter's 84, Manhattan 70. In Jersey City, St. Peter's (4-3) jumped to a big early lead and went on to beat the Jaspers (2-6), despite 30 points by Manhattan's Zavier Turner.

East Tennessee State 85, Limestone 57. Limestone? The Limestone Saints? ETSU advances to 7-1 by beating the D-II squad from Gaffney, SC.

Marquette 89, Georgia 79. A good road win for Marquette (6-2).Georgetown 77, Elon 74. Elon entered the game off to a 6-1 start, including a win over South Florida, and gave Georgetown (5-4) all they could handle. Rodney Prior had 23 for the Hoyas.

Mid-Major Win of the Day: Charleston (6-3), a rather low mid-major, knocked off a decent Davidson club (5-2), a rather high mid-major, 76-61.

Horizon:Milwaukee 83, Montana State 78. Cameron Harvey, a transfer from Stetson, had 17 points as Milwaukee (4-5) won its third game against a D-I team. After 9 first half lead changes, Milwaukee took the lead for good with 3 minutes left in the half, and opened it to as much as 17 in the second half. A furious rally brought the host Bobcats to within 2 with a minute to play, but Milwaukee hit 9 of 10 foul shots in the final minute to win. The Panther also hit 13 of 20 attempts from behind the arc, which is some darn good shootin'. Tyler Hall had 42 points for Montana State (5-4), which lost by just 4 at Washington State and just 8 at Utah.

Connecticut 52, Syracuse 50. A good old Big East game. UConn had previously lost at home to Wagner and Northeastern, and beaten Boston U. at home by just 2 and Loyola Marymount by 3. So this is a real good win for the Huskies (4-4).

Horizon:Michigan State 77, Youngstown State 57. Sure, the Spartans have struggled, but c'mon, they weren't going to lose to YSU. Still, the Penguins (5-5), after falling behind 19-4 to open the game, cut the lead to 4 before settling into halftime down 7. With leading scorer Cameron Morse out with a wrist injury, Matt Donlon scored 15 in the half to keep it reasonably close. The Spartans, also without their leading scorer, Miles Bridges, slowly ground the 'Guins down after halftime. Donlon finished with 21, while freshman Josh Langford led MSU (6-4) with 15.

Central Michigan 107, Green Bay 97. Central Michigan made it a season sweep of Green Bay, dowing the Phoenix in Mt. Pleasant behind 40 points from the nation's leading scorer, Marcus Keene. Showing he's not a ball hog, Keene also had 11 assists. The Chips had won earlier in Green Bay. A bright spot for Green Bay was 6-10 junior forward Karem Kanter, who had a career high in points--23 tonight--for the second straight game. Remember that Green Bay (4-5) was generally picked for third in the Horizon. The Horizon just doesn't have many competitive teams this year. But that may actually help come NCAA time. If Valpo or Oakland can pretty much run the table, they might snag a second bid if eliminated in the conference tournament, or, more likely, just get a good seed.

Non-Conference Opponents:#23 Notre Dame 87, Fort Wayne 72. Fort Wayne sought to establish itself as a major player this season, but Notre Dame never gave the Mastadons a chance, leading start to finish, by 18 at the half, and by as much as 27 in the second half. Fort Wayne did make a late challenge, closing to within 9 with about two and half minutes left, but that was as close as they got. For the Irish (9-0), Bonzie Colson had 17 points and 14 rebounds. Mo Evans led Ft. Wayne (7-3) with 25, and Jon Konchar, one of the best unknown players in the country, added 18.

Florida State 98, Southern Mississippi 49. Since losing to Temple, FSU has beaten Illinois, Minnesota, George Washington, and now tonight's thumping of Southern Miss. Not quite Murderers' Row, but not a bad set for high-major non-conference play. Touted freshman PJ Savoy, who missed the Titan game with a toe injury, had 27 for the Seminoles (8-1), including 7 three-pointers which, you might recall, was FSU's weakness in that Titan game. Southern Miss is 3-4.

Illinois 85, IUPUI 77. IUPUI stretched Illinois to the limit. The Jaguars led by 1 at the break and the second half was a bar fight, with the lead changing hands several times. Illinois took the lead for good with 5:15 to play, but couldn't put space between them and the Jags. But the Illini (7-3) held IUPUI (3-6) scoreless for the final 1:53 and hit 4 free throws in the final 30 seconds to win. Malcolm Hill had 32 for Illinois. Matt O'Leary, a Loyola transfer, led IUPUI with 25.

New Hampshire 80, American 70. With all five starters scoring in double-digits, New Hampshire (6-3) pulled away in the second half against American (1-7).

Morgan State 85, Manhattan 82. Morgan State (3-6) is probably pretty good as MEAC teams go, but they did lose to Bowling Green by 32. So this result doesn't reflect well on the Titans. Tiwian Kendley had 40 points for Morgan State.

Other Games I decided to Include:Michigan 53, Texas 50. This looked like a replay of Michigan's loss to Virginia Tech last week, with the Wolverines opening a big early lead and then fading down the stretch. But this time UM rallied, outscoring the Longhorns (4-4) 8-2 in the final 4 minutes to win. Moritz Wagner led Michigan (7-2) with 15.

#1 Villanova 89, La Salle 79. Villanova had a tough time shaking La Salle in the Palaestra. The Cats led by 4 after a first half featuring 8 ties and 6 lead changes, and though they never trailed after the break, La Salle just kept hanging around and was still within 4 with under 90 seconds to play. Jalen Brunson had 26 for the top-ranked Wildcats (9-0), while Pookie Powell paced the Explorers (4-3) with 27.#3 Kansas 105, UMKC 62. Frank Mason had 30, and Michigan's Josh Jackson had 19 points and 12 rebounds for KU (8-1).

#5 Duke 84, #21 Florida 74. In the final of the Jimmy V classic, Duke closed the first half with a 15-3 run to take a 10 point lead into the locker room. In the second half, Florida never got too close, but Duke couldn't quite put the Gators away either. Luke Kennard scored 4 straight points in the final minutes to keep the Gators (7-2) at bay. Kennard finished with 29 and Amile Jefferson had 24 points and 15 rebounds for Duke (9-1).

#14 Virginia 76, East Carolina 53.#18 Purdue 97, Arizona State 64. Purdue (7-2) is one of those teams with no image, no stars. They just win, usually with ease, like tonight in Madison Square Garden. They shot 59% from the floor and 56% from three against the Sun Devils (5-4).

Belmont 78, Lipscomb 76 (OT). This is a big rivalry in Nashville. People sometimes talk about Belmont (4-3) joining the Horizon.

Mid-Major Win of the Day: On a night with a lot of almost upsets, (Minnesota by 6 over NJIT, Illinois nipping IUPUI, Utah Valley stretching Utah to the limit), the mid-major win of the day is Florida Atlantic 77, Ohio State 75 (OT). Florida Atlantic went on a 14-0 run halfway through the second half, wiping out an 11 point deficit at Columbus. The two teams then battled down the stretch and FAU had a chance to win in regulation but turned it over with 5 seconds to play. OSU (7-2) jumped out in front in the OT, but the Owls (3-5) scored the game's final 5 points, including a game winner by Nick Rutherford with 1 second to play.

Horizon:Toledo 73, Detroit 65. I can't quite figure out the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor hook, so we'll just say we lost again. In something of a moral victory, we kept the loss within single digits. Despite the loss, I enjoyed watching this game from inside Savage Arena w/ MC Sam, Kevin UDM, and Mr. Buysse. Actually, I thought this was easily the best game we've played this year. Toledo shot just 30% in the first half, and given how bad we've been on defense most of the year I hesitant to say it was defense rather than simple poor shooting, but the Rockets often did seem lost on offense, and our guys looked pretty good. Toledo shot much better in the second half--48% overall, 44% from the arc--but it was clear they made some adjustments to set screens for their three-point shooters and do a better job working it into the paint. In other words, they seemed to adjust, we did not.

Josh McFolley and Jarod Williams both played well, but Josh had a couple treys rim out, and with Jenkins also cold from long range and Corey Allen out, we ended up 1-15 from deep. Free throw shooting was again devastating: 0-7 from Hogan and Blackshear combined. The guards were a pretty nifty 12-14, but late in the came, a mere three more points from the line would have made the strategy of each team quite a bit different. Hogan started the year pretty good but now is totally messed up at the line. He was 20-31 through the first 5 games, but just 8-30 since and clearly has no confidence now at the stripe. Jenkins had a strong first half, then disappeared for much of the second. He did record a double-double with a team best 15 points and 14 rebounds.

And the refs didn't help either. I hate to blame refs, but this was one where I really didn't think the calls balanced out, and a couple calls against the Titans came at particularly bad times, including an incidental contact call on McFolley, made by the far side ref, with 0.2 seconds left in the first half and Toledo holding the ball just past midcourt and very unlikely to get off any shot. That gave the Rockets two big points before the break, plus a foul on Josh. While those two points don't appear to have decided the game, they did shape the way each team had to/was able to play in the final couple minutes.

But in the end Toledo played better down the stretch, especially Southfield's Jonathan Williams, who pumped in 29 points. That was a career high for Williams, which surprised me a bit because he's been a good scorer for Toledo for 3 years now. We had just 8 scholarship players suited up tonight.

#6 Kentucky 87, Valparaiso 63. With wins over Alabama, BYU, and Rhode Island, this was Valpo's chance to make a strong case for an NCAA tournament bid should they not gain the Horizon's automatic bid in March. Kentucky (8-1) would have none of it, leading by 21 at halftime. Valpo (7-2) got 23 points from Alec Peters.

Loyola 77, Wright State 64. Loyola (8-2) held Mark Alstork to 13 points on 4-15 shooting, and beat Wright State (5-4) in Chicago.

#15 West Virginia 90, Western Carolina 37. It was 44-12 at halftime, so I suppose the second half could have been worse for Western than it was.

Indiana State 72, #16 Butler 71. Brenton Scott led the Sycamores with 25 points, and hit the game winning free throw with 1 second left to boot. It was Larry Bird's birthday, which must explain the upset.

#17 Wisconsin 78, Idaho State 44. Mashed potatoes.

SMU 74, TCU 59. TCU (8-1), entering the night unbeaten but unranked, is now just unranked.

Mid-Major Win of the Day: Butler's gotta be a high major now, right? They play in the Big East and are nationally ranked. Yet those of us who knew them as MCC patsies in the 1980s still find that hard to swallow. So rather than Indiana State's win over Butler, let's take George Mason's 85-66 spanking of Penn State (6-4). Mason (7-3) actually trailed at halftime. Another contender--Harvard over BC. But that hardly seems like an upset anymore, eh? And kudos to Grand Canyon (4-4), which knocked off San Diego State.

There were 3 or 4 fouls called on us by the ref's that the Toledo announcers on TV questioned. One was Black's blocking foul in the 2nd half followed by the offensive foul called against us a short time later. Absolutely the same plays with the same type of contact. Both times, the call goes Toledo's way. On TV, you can see that our guys are taught to step in and then out of the way of players driving with the ball in order to disrupt their concentration and make them change their plan. If the Toledo player stumbled in reaction to this defense, the ref's called fouls even though there was no contact. I thought the 5th foul called on Hogan was questionable because he jumped straight up behind the Toledo player and did not reach or prevent the guy from getting the rebound. The palming call on Jenkins also looked like home cooking on TV.

ptctitan wrote:There were 3 or 4 fouls called on us by the ref's that the Toledo announcers on TV questioned. One was Black's blocking foul in the 2nd half followed by the offensive foul called against us a short time later. Absolutely the same plays with the same type of contact. Both times, the call goes Toledo's way. On TV, you can see that our guys are taught to step in and then out of the way of players driving with the ball in order to disrupt their concentration and make them change their plan. If the Toledo player stumbled in reaction to this defense, the ref's called fouls even though there was no contact. I thought the 5th foul called on Hogan was questionable because he jumped straight up behind the Toledo player and did not reach or prevent the guy from getting the rebound. The palming call on Jenkins also looked like home cooking on TV.

The palming call on Jenkins was pretty bad, and coupled with the ensuing bad call to send Toledo to the foul line with 0.2 seconds left in the half, could have been a 4 to 5 point swing. Even the two mattered, but give us 4 points and the final 2:30 look different.

The problem is, it's not good when our fate against a so-so MAC team hinges on the refs.

Commissioner wrote:The problem is, it's not good when our fate against a so-so MAC team hinges on the refs.

Agreed. In the end, despite our strong effort and the positive aspect of keeping a good lead into the first TV time out of the 2nd half, we still lost. Much work remains here; but the positives suggest that this team has a chance to bounce back with a strong second half to the season.

Games for Thursday, December 8. Nationwide, there were only 11 games featuring D-I teams tonight.

Horizon:With no conference teams in action, we can take a brief look at the bigger picture. The Horizon started the evening ranked 17th in Conference RPI, and looks like it will settle in around there for the season, probably finishing between 15 and 18 (RPI Forecast currently predicts #16 at year end). A far cry from just a few years ago when it seemed we were knocking at the door of the top 10 conferences.

Valpo sits at #51 nationally, the Conference's best. No other Horizon team was in the top 150 when the night started, although Wright State (#151) and Green Bay (#157) were just outside that marker. The Titans started the evening at #321, the Conference's worst. Oakland has a nice 7-1 start but a weak schedule leaves them with a #207 RPI.

Non-Conference Opponents:Florida State 118, Nicholls State 63. FSU (9-1) scored the game's first 14 points, and the lead just kept building, reaching 38 points before the half was up. By halftime the Seminoles had pretty much quit trying, but the margin kept building. Seven Seminoles scored in double figures, but none reached 20 points. Nicholls State (4-5) beat Boston College earlier this year.

Other Games:Checking in on our exhibition foes:Wayne State 70, Tiffin 68.Walsh 65, Ferris State 59. Wayne State is 6-1. Ferris is 5-3.

UT-Arlington 65, #12 St. Mary's 51. St. Mary's (6-1)bid to reach the Top 10 for the first time in history came to a screeching halt in Moraga. UTA established control with 12-0 run midway through the first half, and the Gaels never got closer than 6, or even within single digits after halftime. The win was UTA's 7th straight, including a victory at Texas. The Mavericks are 8-3.

Iowa 74, #25 Iowa State 68. Iowa State's streak of 61 consecutive weeks in the top 25 will presumably end with next week's poll. Peter Jok led Iowa (5-5) with 23 points.

I had to dig deeper on the OU RPI since it looked goofy with them sitting in the lower 200's (Depending on your source) but having a sterling 8-1 record. OU is 6-1 vs D1 schools, 2-0 vs non D1.

Interestingly, 1-7 North Florida sits a few spots above them, and 0-6 South Carolina State is a few spots below them. Needless to say it's an odd sighting to have a 1 loss team in mid-December be amongst these records.

It must be the strength of schedule. Here we go looking at the teams they've played on the season. A sorry lot at this point.

Necessary but unnecessary disclaimer...I write none of this to disparage OU, just shed light on the numbers behind their RPI and shine light on their record vs who they've played. At the start of the year I wouldn't have guessed just how awful their opening slate of competition would be. I will say this - they are winning. It seems our Titans could've used quite an easier schedule to come together, to gain confidence, to weather the storm of injuries, etc. This has been today's episode of Fun With Math.

It amazes me how we say this stupid stuff all the time. First Oakland has the rep of playing too hard of a non conference schedule, in fact this board and the Valpo board ripped them in their first few years in the league because their hard schedules were selfish and brought the league down. ( If they need money they should have never gotten in our league) Remember that.And then to say they choke at the end of the year when they have been to the NCAA's 3 times in the last 11 years makes us really look bad. I too have taken a close look at them plus watched their Oral Roberts game on tv and heres what stands out. Commish maybe you can help me out here. They aren't winning, they are kicking peoples behinds. They have had a 15 point lead or better in every game they have played including their loss. They lead the league in almost every defensive stat and still lead the league in scoring. The game I watched they had a 40 point lead on Oral Roberts who 2 days later lost at State by 4. They are beating people by 17 points a game. Hopefully it's just a weak schedule, hopefully we will finally find a way to beat them at least once but I guess we should just keep our mouths (fingers) shut until we do. I was on their board and they are saying all the stuff we said about them a few years ago, Detroit should get throw out of the league. I for one don't much like reading that.